Semiconductor devices are used in a variety of electronic applications, such as personal computers, cell phones, digital cameras, and other electronic equipment, as examples. Semiconductor devices are typically fabricated by sequentially depositing insulating or dielectric layers, conductive layers, and semiconductive layers of material over a semiconductor substrate, and patterning the various layers using lithography to form circuit components and elements thereon.
Isolation regions are used in many semiconductor device applications to isolate adjacent active areas or devices from one another. Isolation regions are formed by patterning trenches or recesses in a substrate or workpiece, and filling the trenches with insulating materials. Some isolation regions comprise relatively high aspect ratio trenches formed in the substrate or workpiece, e.g., comprising an aspect ratio of up to 10:1, for example.
As features of semiconductor devices are decreased in size, as is the trend in the semiconductor industry, isolation regions may be insufficient to provide isolation for adjacent active areas or devices, for example. In memory devices, leakage current and parasitic effects may occur between adjacent devices, as examples.
Thus, what are needed in the art are improved methods of forming isolation regions of semiconductor devices and structures thereof.